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Tuesday, November 3, 2020

A Bisguier Roller Coaster Ride

     Who can forget 1958? I became a teenager and the US was suffering a big recession with unemployment soaring to over 7 percent. Our household was unaffected though because my dad, a foreman on the B&O railroad, remained employed. At the same time, inflation dipped below 2 percent so those who were working and earning the average wages of $3,851 per year were quite well off,
     Cars kept getting bigger and heavier with larger engines, but imports continued to grow with Datsun and Toyota from Japan being the leaders. The US launched its first satellite down in Cape Canaveral, Florida. In August, the Navy's USS Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine, successfully creeped under the North Pole in the first undersea journey to the geographic North Pole. The submarine began its trip at Point Barrow, Alaska and traveled under the Arctic ice cap at a depth of about 500 feet for over 1,000 miles. 
     If you watched television seven of the top ten programs were Westerns: Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Rifleman, Maverick, Tales of Wells Fargo and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. The non-Westerns were The Danny Thomas Show, The Real McCoys and I've Got a Secret. 
     In May, 1958, 15-year old US Champion Bobby Fischer appeared on I've Got a Secret and stumped the panel when they couldn't guess what he was famous for. When asked if what he did made people happy, Fischer responded that it made him happy and when asked how long he had been playing chess, Fischer replied that he had been playing since he was six, but didn't start playing seriously until age 9. In September, 1958, Fischer became the youngest GM in the world. 
     In other chess news Raymond Weinstein won the US Junior championship. Charles Kalme, a University of Pennsylvania freshman, won the Intercollegiate Championship. The US Open was held in Rochester, New York and was won by Cuban Champion Eldis Cobo Arteaga who finished a half point ahead of Larry Evans and Robert Steinmeyer. 
     In a long forgotten tournament down in Bogota, Columbia that was won by Argentina's Oscar Panno, two US players participated: William Lombardy and Arthur Bisguier. 
     Lombardy (1937-2017) won the 1954 New York State Championship and in 1956 he tied for first with Larry Evans at the Canadian Open Championship. The same year he narrowly lost a match to Reshevsky (2.5-3.5) and played second board for the World Student Team Championship in Uppsala, Sweden where he went undefeated. In 1957, Lombardy became the first American to win the World Junior Chess Championship when he scored 11-0 in Toronto. Besides finishing in second place in Bogata, later in the year Lombardy also went undefeated (11-4) and finished in second place in the Mar del Plata. 
     As for former US Champion Arthur Bisguier, he had been in poor form having tied for tenth in the last US championship where he lost seven games. In Bogota, although he only tied for 7th place his play was hardly disappointing as he played some interesting tactical chess and was rewarded with some nice wins. 
 
     In the following game played against Walter Ader Hausman of Chile, Bisguier obtained a decisive advantage right in the opening but then threw it clean away. However, in the tactical melee that followed Bisguier managed to maintain the upper hand by a hair and brought a thrilling game to a neat conclusion.

Arthur Bisguier - Walter Ader Hausman

Result: 1-0
Site: Bogota
Date: 1958
Pirc Defense
[...] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 ♘f6 3.♘c3 g6 4.♗g5 ♗g7 5.f4 Throughout his career Bisguier was fond of this type of P-formation because it generally lends itself to an attacking game. In any case, 5...O-O, 5...c6 or 5...h6 would have been better. 5...c5 William Lombardy considered this to be the losing move even though it takes accurate play on white's part to demonstrate it. 6.e5 According to Lombardy this is the refutation of black's opening play. Indeed, black has farted quite poorly in this line. Also, black has not done well againt the alternative 6.d5 either which demonstrates how poor black's position really is. 6...♘g4 Practice has shown that no N move is satisfactory nor is 6...dxe5 .
6...cxd4 is relatively best. 7.exf6 exf6 8.♕xd4 ♕e7 9.♘ce2 ♘c6 10.♕c3 O-O 11.♗h4 and white has the advantage. Yakovich,Y (2525) -Chabanon,J (2415)/Oviedo rapid 1993
7.♗b5 After this black has no really good move. 7...♘c6 Even though this loses a piece in practice it's no better or worse than the alternatives! (7...♗d7 8.♕xg4 cxd4 9.♗xd7 ♘xd7 10.e6 is good for white.)
7...♔f8 8.dxc5 h6 9.♗h4 a6 10.♗a4 and here, too, black is in poor shape.
8.d5
8.dxc5 is unsatisfactory. 8...dxe5 9.♕xd8 ♔xd8 10.O-O-O and black is equal. Gusev,Y-Chepukaitis,G/Kharkov 1967/USSR Chp
8...a6 9.dxc6! When he played 7...Nc6 black may have been thinking white had to play 9.Bh4. (9.♗a4 b5 10.dxc6 bxa4 but here, too, white is slightly better. )
9.♗e2 works out well for black after. 9...♘e3 10.♕d2 ♘d4 11.♗d3 ♘df5
9...axb5 10.cxb7 Here's the problem...black has to abandon the defense of his N. 10...♗xb7 11.♕xg4 Lombardy stated that black can resign here, but the beauty of chess is that you can play without any money in the bank. It's interesting that although black is a full piece down, Komodo evaluates the position as only one P in white's favor, so it would appear that Ader was justified in playing on a bit. Also, as the game progresses, it's clear that a white win is not yet automatic. 11...b4 12.♘ce2 A wee bit of a slip. 12.Nd1 and Nd3 would have been safer abd offered black zero counterplay. Komodo puts white's advantage as just half a P! 12...dxe5 13.fxe5 ♗xe5 14.c3 Oh, no! Bisguier has permitted himself to get involved in unnecessary tactics. Now the chances are even! Either 14.O-O or 14.Rd1 would have been better. 14...f5 Being a piece down black can't waste time...he has to go all out for an attack. 15.♕h3 ♕a5 Continuing his aggressive play, but taking on c3 at once was even better. (15...bxc3 16.♘xc3 ♕b6 17.♘ge2 ♗d4 with equal chances.) 16.♗d2
16.♕e3 attacking the b-Pawn and the B on e5 plus eyeing e7 would have put white back in control. 16...♗xg2 17.♕xe5 O-O 18.♘g3 and white is much better.
16...O-O-O 17.♘f3 ♖d3 Black appears to have some real counterplay here, but the fact remains that he is a piece down. The question is whether white can avoid making any more slips. 18.cxb4 cxb4 19.♕h4 ♖hd8 After a series of small, but imprecise moves, by black, white is now back in the driver's seat with, according to Komodo, a three P advantage.
19...♗xf3 offered a better chance. After 20.♕c4 ♔b8 21.♕xd3 ♗xg2 22.♖g1 ♗b7 23.♕b3 ♖c8 24.♗xb4 ♕c7 white's winning here also, but black can try advancing his gob of Ps on the K-side.
20.♗xb4
20.♘xe5 was more clear. Bisguier is, as usual, trying to be ingenious. 20...♕xe5 21.♕c4 ♕c7 22.♕xc7 ♔xc7 23.♗xb4
20...♕d5 21.♖c1 ♔b8 22.O-O ♗xb2 23.♘f4 This is more clear than taking the e-Pawn. (23.♗xe7 ♗xc1 24.♘xc1 ♖d1 25.♗xd8 ♕c5 26.♕f2 ♖xf1 27.♔xf1 ♕xc1 28.♘e1)
23.♖c2 This is probably the simplest reply. 23...♗f6 24.♕f2 ♖d1 25.♖xd1 ♕xd1 26.♘e1 with a technical win.
23...g5 This violent move is quite trappy...very nice! The complications are enormous. 24.♕f2 A poor move.
24.♘xg5 ♕d4 25.♕f2 ♕xf2 26.♔xf2 ♗d4 27.♔e1 ♖e3 28.♘e2 ♗a6 29.♖c2 ♖c8 30.♖xc8 ♔xc8 31.♖xf5 ♖xe2 and black is a little better.
(24.♕xg5 ♗xc1 25.♖xc1 ♖d1 and black has equalized.)
24.♘xd5 This is best. 24...gxh4 25.♖b1 ♖xf3 26.gxf3 ♗d4 27.♔g2 ♖xd5 28.♗xe7 with a difficult position, but one that is, or should be, in white's favor.
24...♖xf3 Suddenly black has re-entered the game! 25.gxf3
25.♘xd5 This isn't so ggod now as after 25...♖xf2 26.♔xf2 ♗xc1 27.♘xe7 ♗d2 28.♗xd2 ♖xd2 29.♔e3 ♖xg2 30.♖xf5 ♖xa2 nobody is going to win.
25.♕xf3 is bad on account of 25...♕d4 26.♕f2 ♕xb4 27.♖b1 ♖d2 with the advantage.
25.♕xb2 is also insufficient. 25...♖xf1 26.♖xf1 gxf4 with equal chances.
25...gxf4 26.♗d6 The only chance to win.
26.♕xb2 isn't playable. 26...♖g8 27.♔f2 ♕xf3 with excellent chances. 28.♔e1 ♕e4 29.♔d1 ♖g2 30.♕h8 ♔a7 31.♗c5 ♔a6 and white is in real danger of losing.
26...♔a8 Another miscue!
26...♖xd6 is better. After 27.♕xb2 ♔a8 28.♕b3 ♕d2 black can still put up tough resistance.
27.♖cd1 Technically white is winning, but in practice it's still possible for anything to happen. Black has several plausible moves here: 27...Qg8+ (best by a slight bit), 27...Qe6, 27... Qc6, 27...Qb5 and 27...Qxf3, 27...♕c6 Bisguier's next move is an inaccuracy lets his opponent back in the game. 28.♗xf4
28.♗xe7 is much beter. Then after 28...♖e8 29.♖d8 ♖xd8 30.♗xd8 ♗e5 White wins this game as verifies by Stockfish winning 5 Shootout games, but they were long (another 30+ moves) and a bit tricky. For humans, it would (I think) still require careful play on white's part.
28...♖g8 Black can't afford to exchange Rs because white's passed a-Pawn would then make itself felt. 29.♔h1 e5 30.h4 Bisguier has managed to free himself of mating threats on the long diagonal, but at the cost of allowing black to equalize...yet again!
30.♖b1 is best. A likely continuation might be 30...♗c3 31.♖b6 ♕a4 32.♗e3 ♕c4
32...♗d5 33.♖fb1 and wins. 33...♕xa2??34.♕xa2 ♗xa2 35.♖a6#
33.♖fb1 ♖g7 34.♖6b3 and black is facing too many threats .
30...♕a4 31.♖g1
31.♕xb2 is impossible because of the following mating combination 31...♗xf3 Mate attack 32.♖xf3 ♕xd1 33.♔h2 ♕g1 34.♔h3 ♕g4 35.♔h2 ♕xh4 36.♖h3 ♕xf4 37.♖g3 ♕xg3 38.♔h1 ♕g1#
31...♖c8 32.♗e3 f4 33.♗b6
33.♕xb2 still loses. 33...♗xf3 34.♔h2 fxe3 35.♔h3 ♗xd1 36.♕g2 e4 and black wins.
33...♕a3 Reasonable; it attacks two Ps.
33...♗c3 This move saves the game. Black intends to advance his e-Pawn which would be very annoying for white. 34.♖c1 e4 35.♖g4 (35.fxe4 ♕xe4 36.♔h2 f3 with equal chances.) 35...exf3
34.♔h2 With this move Bisguier prepares for ...e4. 34...♗xf3 Falling for a cheapo...a tragedy.
34...e4 is best, but after 35.fxe4 ♗e5 (35...♗xe4 36.♖g5 ♗c6 37.♖a5 wins.) 36.♖g5 ♕e7 37.♗d4 ♗c7 38.♕f3 white has avoided disaster and can now concentrate on coming up with a winning plan one that likely involves his a-Pawn. Note that the e-Pawn is immune. If 38...Qxf3 39.Qa3+ leads to mate. If 38...Bxe4 white plays his Q to c4 vis b3 and threatens mate. 38...♗xe4 39.♕b3 ♗c6 40.♕c4
35.♖b1 After this black loses his B on b2 and he will be a R down.
35.♖b1 ♗d4 (35...♗e4 36.♖xb2 and black is a R down.) 36.♗xd4 exd4 37.♖b3
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